


Goner

by vampiric



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Hate to Love, High School AU, M/M, theres a little bit of cursing in here but not too much so dont worry, um idrk how else to tag this so just tell me if i should add anything else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 07:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4051732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampiric/pseuds/vampiric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I want to be known by you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     "Did you see the new Star Wars movie, dude?" Mark had asked Josh one day when they were on their way to science class.

     "What? No, I didn't even know it--" Josh's speech was abruptly stopped as he was violently shoved into a row of lockers lining the school's interior wall, sending all of his things flying out of his arms. He was now sitting on the cold linoleum floor, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands and sighing deeply.

     "What the hell, man?! Watch where you're going!" Mark tried to shout at whichever 15-year-old personification of the word 'hormone' had pushed his friend, but he wasn't exactly sure who it was, so his voice wavered with uncertainty. He scowled and put a hand down for Josh to grab onto.

     "What's everyone's problem with me? What did I ever do to any of these little shits?" Josh brushed himself off after he was pulled to his feet by Mark.

     "I don't know, man.." Mark looked around and scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, uh.. I've gotta get to class, I wish I could help you. Sorry, dude." With that, he scurried away and Josh was left alone to clean up the mess of papers he had dropped shortly before.

 

 

\----

 

     Tyler Joseph was one of the most attractive guys in school, but also one of the least approachable. Every time Josh tried to strike up a conversation with his crush, he was either totally ignored or he embarrassed himself by even existing in the other's presence.

     Despite his previous unsuccessful efforts at becoming at least friends with Tyler, Josh was determined to make it work. He knew Tyler's schedule by heart and sat at one particular lunch table which was extremely close to Tyler and his group of friends, but was conveniently always empty.

     Today was the last Friday of school before Winter Break, and Josh decided it would be the day that he finally talked to Tyler. As creepy as it sounded, he even marked it on his calendar. He was going to invite Tyler to sit next to him at lunch and they would become inseparable. At least.. That's what Josh hoped would happen.

 

\----

 

11:45 AM. It was the 10th grade lunch hour, but more importantly, it was time for Josh to make his move. He was already sitting down at his usual table and he scanned through each face quickly until he spotted Tyler.

"Hey!" Josh accidentally choked on his own saliva when he tried calling out to the other kid, but he made sure to collect himself as quickly as possible. "Tyler!"

Upon hearing his name, Tyler glanced over to Josh. He had a very curious expression on his face, which worried Josh briefly, but he had no time to think about worst-case scenarios. He waved his hand toward himself and the seat next to him, signaling for the other boy to come over. Tyler said something to the group of friends that had been waiting for him at the other lunch table. What he told them was indistinguishable to Josh, but he assumed he was assuring them that he would return shortly.

"What?" Tyler asked, glancing around to make sure no one saw him talking to this weirdo.

"Uh.. Do you want to sit with me today?" Josh cringed as he awaited the answer.

"I.. Look, can we do this another time? My friends are gonna think I'm gay or something." 

Josh hesitated for a moment before nodding his head quickly. "Yeah, uh.. Whatever you want." Tyler began making his way to the table where his friends were, but before he sat down, he turned his head back to Josh.

"For the record, I'm the one that pushed you into those lockers the other day." He gave a conceited smirk and turned his head away from the other boy once again. Josh sighed and slumped down into his seat, wondering why he even bothered coming to school anymore. _**I'm a goner,**_ he thought.

 

\----

 

"See, what you've gotta do," Mark began. "Is join whatever sport he's in." It was the 3rd day of Winter Break and he was over at Josh's house for a sleepover. After Josh explained what had happened with Tyler on Friday, Mark declared that it was his duty to try assisting him in figuring out ways to become true friends with the other kid. Josh had concluded that neither of them (especially Mark) were very good at dealing with crushes, but he took any help he could get.

"Hm.. I've never really thought about that." Josh stated. "He's in basketball. Do you think I would be good at that?" Josh had been expecting a real answer, but all Mark did was shrug.

 


	2. Chapter 2

     It was the first Tuesday that school was back in session after Winter Break. Josh had tried out for the basketball team the day before and was anxiously waiting to find out whether or not he'd been accepted. He honestly didn't think he would get on the team, but maybe there was a chance he could make it.

     When Josh got home from his bus stop that afternoon, his mother was sitting on the couch. She was speaking with someone on the phone, and her eyebrows were scrunched tightly. Josh didn't really know what this meant, but he realized the call was probably about him when he heard bits of the conversation from his mother's end.  
     "Really? Hmm, well... I'll tell him. Thank you, good bye." She hung up and set the phone down, smiling widely at her son.  
     "What was that about?" Josh asked nonchalantly, even though he already knew the answer. He sat down on the couch next to his mom and bit into an apple he'd grabbed from the refrigerator.  
     "It was your school's sports supervisor, and he told me that you made the basketball team!"  
     Josh beamed and laughed proudly. He hugged his mother, then his eyes widened. "I have to go tell Mark!" With that, he jumped up from the couch and ran out the front door, picking up his skateboard from the porch and riding the short distance to his friend's house.  
     Once there, Josh set his skateboard against the side of the steps leading up to the front door and knocked as softly as he could manage in this moment of excitement. After a few seconds, Mark opened up and let Josh inside.  
     "You're never gonna guess what happened." Josh started, pacing around Mark's room.  
     "You made the team?"  
     "Yes! How cool is that?!"  
     "Pretty damn cool." Mark admitted, smiling and patting his friend on the back. "Nice job, dude."

\----

     The first day of basketball practice for Josh was a lot harder than he'd initially thought it would be. He was evidently not very good at shooting hoops, which was surprising since he had been put on the team willingly by the coach. Then again, when he tried out, all he had to do was a bit of dribbling as well as defining some simple basketball terminology (which he'd brushed up on over Winter Break since he wanted so badly to get closer to Tyler.)  
     "Come on, dipshit. Make a basket!" Tyler had said to Josh during practice that afternoon. Josh was going to try to impress the other boy by slam dunking the ball into the hoop, but he ended up getting nervous and throwing it at the wall instead, causing it to come crashing back at his face. Tyler and all the other popular kids on the team had laughed and Josh just wanted to disappear.  
     Josh had only made one basket throughout the entire hour of practice he endured that day, which earned him the title of 'worst player on the face of the earth'. Well, that's what Tyler called him, anyway. Even though it wasn't necessarily a positive interaction, at least Tyler acknowledged Josh at all, right? Anyway, Josh recognized that he wasn't so good, but if he wanted to impress his crush, he was going to have to get a whole lot better.

\----

     "Come on! Pass the ball to me!" Tyler had shouted to Josh. They were playing their first game with Josh on the team. He thought he knew what he had to do, but he realized that playing against another team was a lot harder than just practicing with his own. Especially since he had somehow acquired the ball, but he hadn't had a single clue where to toss it.  
     Josh was feeling extremely overwhelmed at the amount of people shouting to him. He was being told to "throw it to me" by what felt like the entire world's population, and simultaneously being told to try making a basket. He knew that he definitely should not try making a basket, but he wasn't exactly sure who to give the ball to. If he threw it to someone other than Tyler, his crush would probably be mad at him, but what if he tried to throw it to Tyler and missed? Then everyone would be mad at him. He was stuck in the mud now, not knowing what to do. In a fit of horrible anxiety, Josh tossed the ball blindly into the middle of the court, hoping the right person caught it. His eyes automatically squeezed shut when he let go of the ball, but they shot open once again when he heard the nearly deafening screams coming from all directions.  
Once Josh realized what had happened, a huge grin spread across his face. When he tossed the ball, one of his own teammates caught it and made a basket, causing Josh's team to win the game.

\----

     Once when Josh was lying awake at night, he started thinking about Tyler. Why was he so inaccessible? Why did he never talk to Josh? And when they did speak, why did he treat him so poorly?  
     Maybe Tyler wasn't that attractive after all. Actually.. No, he was still pretty cute, unfortunately. Josh didn't understand why he always had to fall for the people who he had such little chance with.  
     He decided that he had to continue trying to get on Tyler's good side, as hard as that might have been. He was willing to take very drastic measures if necessary.

\----  
     "Hey, Tyler," Josh had called out as everyone was making their way to lunch after class. The other kid glanced over and, instead of saying anything, nodded his head as if to ask Josh what was up.  
     "Uh, do you want to sit with me at lunch? You can invite a couple other friends to sit with us too, if you want. It won't bother me."  
     "Hm..." Tyler looked like he was genuinely very deep in thought. "Alright. I'm gonna get a couple kids at the table with us. But not too many, I promise."  
     "Okay, great! Thanks, Tyler!" Josh smiled brightly and the two walked together into the cafeteria.

\----

      _"Not too many, I promise" my ass.._ Josh thought. Tyler brought everyone that was on their basketball team (plus a few extras) to sit at Josh's lunch table. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem initially, but Tyler ended up completely ignoring Josh. They hadn't even exchanged one word the entire half-hour that lunch went on. What was Tyler's problem with Josh? Was he doing this on purpose? Maybe he had a crush on Josh and was too nervous to speak with him, just as Josh had been about Tyler. Who was Josh kidding, though? Tyler wasn't gay. And even if he was, why would he have had a crush on Josh of all people?  
     After lunch ended, Josh walked to his next class by himself. He was actually pretty mad at Tyler, but he felt like it was unreasonable. Tyler wasn't obligated to spend time with him, and Josh had to try to remember that. But then again, he could have paid at least a little attention to him. It had been Josh who invited Tyler to sit at his table, after all.

\----

     During math class (his last one for the day), Josh had taken out his notebook. He never really paid attention in school, but especially not when Tyler invaded all of his thoughts. He was attempting to write a story that he'd been plotting out in his mind for weeks, but he ended up writing **"I want to be known by you"** over and over until 3 and a half of the pages in his notebook were completely filled up with the phrase. The only reason he stopped there was because his teacher had told him to put the thing away, so Josh was left staring at the classroom's terribly ugly carpet and thinking about how unlucky he was. Suddenly, though, he'd had an idea. If he wanted to get Tyler to notice him, he would have to spend time with him outside of school somehow. Tyler was currently in the same math class as Josh, which meant that (when he wasn't paying attention, of course) Josh could sneak over a few seats to Tyler's backpack and take something of his. This would result in Tyler having to go to Josh's house in order to retrieve said thing...

\----

     "Hey, um... This is Josh." The boy was at home now and had a sinister grin on his face. He had called Tyler in order to inform him that he "accidentally" took home the other kid's notebook.  
     "Oh, hey." Tyler replied coolly from the other end. "What's up?"  
     "Uh, well.. I think I accidentally took home one of your notebooks. See, I thought it was mine because we like... Both have notebooks that are the same color and... Yeah."  
     "Well do you... want me to come pick it up or something?"  
     "Would you mind?"  
      "No, it's.. It's cool."  
      "Alright, then you can come by any time. My address is 3360 West Baker Street, okay?"  
      "That's actually sorta close to where I live, can I just swing by like... Right now?"  
      "Sure, that's fine! I'm chill with whatever time you want."  
      "Okay, cool. Thanks man, I'll be there in a little bit."

\----

     About 10 minutes after their phone call ended, Tyler arrived at Josh's front door. Josh answered a little too quickly, but he wasn't necessarily concerned. He had everything planned out.  
    "Hi, Tyler!" Josh started once he opened the door. "Oh, your notebook, right. I actually left it in my room, I think. Do you want to come inside?"  
     "Uh, sure.." Tyler looked around briefly and stepped in the door.  
     "Sorry about the mess." Josh said, although he'd cleaned up right before the other boy got there. In all honesty, the house was extremely tidy at the moment.  
     "No, it's fine. Actually, compared to my house, this is like... Paradise." Tyler giggled and Josh marked in his mind that this was the first genuine laugh he'd ever heard come out of Tyler. The two walked down a narrow hallway which led to Josh's room. It was a relatively large space considering the ratio of it to the rest of the house, but it looked pretty cramped since there were posters lining every inch of each wall and shelves all around which housed various items that Josh had been collecting for years.  
     "You can take your shoes off if you want. Just set them anywhere." Josh motioned to different spots on the floor where Tyler could set his sneakers, and the boy chose a spot close to the bed.  
     "Mind if I sit down?" Tyler asked, sitting on the bed when Josh nodded.  
     "Here you go." Josh handed Tyler his notebook after retrieving it from his backpack. He then sat down on his bed next to the other kid, sighing and looking at the posters on his walls.  
     "Whoa," Tyler began, pointing to a poster slightly above both of their heads. "You like My Chemical Romance? I didn't even think anyone else knew about them!"  
Josh nodded quickly. "They're like.. My favorite! It's too bad they only have one album right now, though."  
     "Yeah, but it's really good. I like the song Early Sunsets Over Monroeville. I think it's my favorite 'cause I can relate to it a lot." Tyler looked a bit embarrassed when he said this, and Josh desperately wanted to tell him that it was alright to relate to songs with negative lyrics like these, but he decided to keep his cool.  
     "Dude, I relate really well to that one, too. But I think my favorite is Headfirst for Halos. Or maybe Vampires Will Never Hurt You, but it's hard to choose, y'know?"  
     The two kids had gotten so absorbed in their conversation about music that they actually lost track of time. It was around 3:30 when Tyler had gotten to Josh's house, but once they looked at the clock again, it was nearly 6:00.  
     "Oh man, I should probably get going. It was really fun hanging out today, thanks, Josh." Tyler smiled warmly. They both stood up and Josh wanted to give Tyler a hug, but he wasn't too sure if the other boy was quite comfortable with that yet. They had time to progress, though, so they said their goodbyes and Tyler headed back to his house.

\----

     That week had dragged on for what seemed like decades, but eventually Friday came. It was the last period of the day and Tyler and Josh sat next to each other in math class. They'd been talking for a while about different things when Josh felt it was the right time to invite Tyler to hang out for the weekend.  
     "Hey, uh.." He began, a bit nervous for some reason. "Do you think you could come spend the night at my house tomorrow?"  
     Tyler automatically grinned when he heard the question. "I'll have to ask my mom, but it sounds good to me."

\----

     On Saturday, Tyler did go to Josh's house. They'd been there for several hours when it was time for bed.  
     "Do you want my bed? I can sleep on the floor." Josh had asked.  
     "What? No, no, I can't make you do that!" Tyler answered.  
     "Then like... What do we do?"  
     "I'll sleep on the floor, it's all good."  
     "No, man... I will, it's okay."  
     After a while of arguing about who slept on the bed, it was decided that they both would. Secretly, Josh was very happy about this, but he didn't show it because he was fairly certain that Tyler didn't know the other kid had a crush on him.  
     "Hey, Josh?" Tyler whispered. It was around 1:00 AM and neither of them were asleep yet.  
     "Yeah?" Josh responded.  
     "Sorry I'm like... An asshole to you sometimes. I'm not always like that, you know. It's like **I've got two faces.** "  
     "It's all good, I can understand why you treated me the way you did."  
     "Really?"  
     "Yeah, I mean... I'm the weird kid that everyone thinks is gay. Not a lot of people really want to associate themselves with me."  
     "No, Josh.. It's like.... Can I ask you something?"  
     "I, um.. Sure?"  
     "So like... Hypothetically speaking.... _Hypothetically._ This is all very hypothetical, okay?"  
     "Alright, alright, just get on with it."  
     "If, _hypothetically_ , a guy that you knew were to ask you out, what would you say? Hypothetically."  
     "Well, like... It depends on who the person is."  
     "Okay, fine. If someone like me asked you out, what would you do? Like, how would you respond?"  
     Josh was blushing at this point, but at least the lights were off so no one could see.. "Um... I'd say yes, I think? If it was.. Someone like you, yeah." He was growing worried. What if Tyler was tricking him? What if their entire friendship was a joke? What if Tyler blackmailed him with this information?  
     "So, uh... Do you... Do you want to?" Tyler asked quietly after a moment.  
     "Want to what? Go out with you?" Josh asked, his eyes wide.  
     "Yeah... We don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to, it's just--"  
     "Sure, let's go out." Josh's whole body felt warm and as if butterflies were inhabiting it.  
     "You're serious?"  
     "Only if you are."  
     "Well, like... Yeah, of course I am."  
     "So then, we're boyfriends now?"  
     "Yeah, I guess we are." Tyler rolled over slightly and put an arm around Josh, pulling him close. Josh smiled even more widely and intertwined his fingers with his new boyfriend's.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the bolded parts are lyrics from the song goner by twenty one pilots

**Author's Note:**

> the bolded parts are lyrics from the song goner by twenty one pilots


End file.
